Newbie Hamburger Grinder -- question

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airedale

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I have used my #8 LEM grinder a couple of times now with reasonable success.

Tomorrow I'll be grinding about 6# total of brisket and chuck. I am thinking in advance about cutting it. It seems like everyone talks about cutting into cubes and that is what I have done in the past.

But ... wouldn't it work to cut it into strips about 1" x 1" on the end but long? Then just feed them into the grinder vertically? I'll probably try this but I thought I'd check the assembled wisdom here too.

Thx.
 
Thanks, gents. I wonder why people seem to talk only about cubes. This seems so logical. & yes, I'll put them in the freezer for a bit first.
 
airedale said:
Thanks, gents. I wonder why people seem to talk only about cubes. This seems so logical. & yes, I'll put them in the freezer for a bit first.
Click to expand...

Maybe to spread the seasonings etc evenly?
When I do small lots and use the Blender insstead of the grinder I go small
 
+1 for nearly frozen strips.
From a reccomendation, possibly from this forum, I cut mine WITH the grain. The thought being the grinder then cuts shorter sections against the grain.
And I do some batches single coarse grind, for chili, etc. and for burgers a double grind, coarse, then fine.
I find it pattys better, holds together better.

You can't beat fresh ground beef, it's a game changer.
 
Strips are much better IMO. Self feeding that way


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Thanks guys. Using strips worked like a dream. Faster to cut than cubes, also mostly self-feeding, so more speed gained there. Brisket was easy to cut with the grain, chuck slightly less so but I tried.

I mixed brisket and chuck strips on a large cookie sheet for partial freezing. I didn't have any seasoning to add to this hamburger but it would have been very easy to add sausage seasoning from a shaker and get it quite even. Maybe even skip the meat mixer. I have one but it is a PITA to clean.
 
Another vote for strips. Often they will self feed. If you have a coarse disc, consider making some 'chili' grind not only for chili, but tacos or lasagna.
 
airedale said:
Thanks guys. Using strips worked like a dream. Faster to cut than cubes, also mostly self-feeding, so more speed gained there. Brisket was easy to cut with the grain, chuck slightly less so but I tried.

I mixed brisket and chuck strips on a large cookie sheet for partial freezing. I didn't have any seasoning to add to this hamburger but it would have been very easy to add sausage seasoning from a shaker and get it quite even. Maybe even skip the meat mixer. I have one but it is a PITA to clean.
Click to expand...

How much did you make, I sometimes use our blender with metal blades for smaller grinds
 
Titch said:
How much did you make, I sometimes use our blender with metal blades for smaller grinds
Click to expand...
I just made 5 pounds, a couple of kilos. There are only 2 of us and I don't like to experiment with big quantity when I'm playing with new things.
 
OK, gents -- an update. I made some Italian sausage today.

Riffing on the strips idea I spread my ground meat (about 6#) on a cookie sheet, maybe 1/2-3/4" thick and partially froze it. I then cut it into strips with a circular pizza cutter. I fed the grinder with 3-6" pieces of strip put right down the grinder throat. They didn't self-feed as reliably as meat strips, but very little stomper effort was needed to persuade them to move. This was probably 3x faster than my former amateur-hour technique of putting globs into the hopper and mashing them into the throat with the stomper.

Ground meat strips may be old news to you veterans, but it was new to me.
 
airedale said:
OK, gents -- an update. I made some Italian sausage today.

Riffing on the strips idea I spread my ground meat (about 6#) on a cookie sheet, maybe 1/2-3/4" thick and partially froze it. I then cut it into strips with a circular pizza cutter. I fed the grinder with 3-6" pieces of strip put right down the grinder throat. They didn't self-feed as reliably as meat strips, but very little stomper effort was needed to persuade them to move. This was probably 3x faster than my former amateur-hour technique of putting globs into the hopper and mashing them into the throat with the stomper.

Ground meat strips may be old news to you veterans, but it was new to me.
Click to expand...

This was for your second grind?
 
thirdeye said:
This was for your second grind?
Click to expand...
Actually I decided to try only one grind (6mm), so this was before the meat went into the grinder with an open stuffing plate installed. But I think the frozen-strip idea would have worked either way.

Yesterday I did some Polish sausage and left the 6mm plate/second grind in place during stuffing. It was really slow going; I think the plate got partially plugged up. The sausages do not have a lot of texture, either, so I thought I'd try a single grind (6 mm) and see how I liked that. I generally like some texture in a sausage.
 
Stuffing with a grinder is always going to give you a smearing of the meat and fat with a loss of texture. The only fix is stuff with the first grind will be a little better texture.
To do it the way your imagining is to stuff with a (wait for it) stuffer!!
Ed
 
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